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Essentials of Murder
Essentials of Murder
Kim Davis | 2021 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Essential Series Debut
After a scandal in San Francisco sent her packing, Carissa Carmichael has returned home to Oak Creek Valley in Southern California and has decided to open Aromatherapy Apothecary, a store specializing in essential oils. She is planning to work with her neighbor, who owns a candle shop, but the neighbor’s son, Russ, is certain that Carissa is going to steal business from his mom’s store. After a particularly nasty scene with Russ, Carissa enters her shop the next day to find his body in the back of her shop. Already convicted of the crime by local gossip and with the detective in charge of the case determined to find evidence to arrest her, Carissa sets out to prove her innocence. Can she do it?

I always love it when a debut cozy has characters who already feel like old friends, and that’s the case here. As we slowly meet Carissa’s family and friends, they form a great group I can’t wait to hang out with again. The suspects? They are great at keeping us confused. The mystery is good. I had some guesses on part of it, but I wasn’t sure until the end. The climax could have been stronger, but it did answer all our questions. As a Southern California resident, I loved recognizing some of the locations mentioned even if Oak Creek Valley is fictional. This is a fun debut you won’t want to miss.
  
Badlands (1973)
Badlands (1973)
1973 | Crime, Drama
Impressive debut from the legend himself, Terrence Malick
Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek look so young! Probably because they are!

Impressive directorial debut and the start of great things to come. Some of his visual style are already present including impressive landscape shots or cut scenes featuring animals and nature.

The story is based on the American serial killer Charles Starkweather who befriends a naive young girl, invades her life and brings her along on a mass killing road trip across the southern United States. The victims include almost everyone they meet. The authorities are mobilized and pursue the duo as tensions escalate.

Sheen and Spacek are perfectly cast as the young couple which modern audiences would equate to Natural Born Killers; however, this film is not over the top like NBK. I really enjoyed their reluctant relationship and the mounting peril with the inevitable confrontation with the law.

Highly recommended.

  
    Lab Values

    Lab Values

    Medical

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    All healthcare professionals & students get at some point to measure and evaluate biological...

Rêveries by Rob Simonsen
Rêveries by Rob Simonsen
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Rating
Rob Simonsen began playing the piano at a young age by picking out melodies he heard in his parents’ record collection, and soon started composing for himself. “I daydreamed a lot when I was young,” he remembers. “I’d sit at the piano, and it was very much about escape: letting my mind wander, exploring.”

Simonsen’s deep habit of daydreaming is at last gratifyingly indulged on his long-awaited solo debut RÊVERIES, announced today for a September 6th release date on Sony Music Masterworks. On latest single Coeur, the acoustic piano takes the spotlight, but Simonson also develops an echoed 16-note pulse, as well as hints of a chamber-pop orchestra, away the distance. The result is a delicious tension between unctuous and stoic: opposing forces that, together, lead us gently towards catharsis. Coeur is the introspective and delicately-balanced debut single from Rob Simonsen, featuring a gorgeous combination of electronic minimalism and classical music composition.